Hannah Poulton: the best device for scars

This article is based on an interview with Hannah Poulton, a women's health physiotherapist with over 22 years of experience who specialises in c-section scars.

Caesarean sections have become more common in all the Nordic countries over the past four decades. According to preliminary data, 19.6% of all births in 2022 were caesarean sections (THL 2023). Scar tissue can cause both physical and emotional restrictions and changes.

Throughout her career, Hannah has achieved good outcomes treating scars with manual techniques. Wanting to do more for her clients and to speed up changes in scar tissue, she began looking for new treatment options. That is how she was introduced to LymphaTouch in October 2020. From the first use, Hannah could see the effect LymphaTouch had on how scar tissue functioned and felt, and best of all, her client could feel it too. Over the past three years, she has seen how the negative pressure, the different treatment head sizes and the versatility of the device allow for different scar treatments. LymphaTouch lifts the scar tissue, which increases lymphatic circulation in the area and opens up fascial structures. This allows the scar tissue to heal and recover.

Hannah Poulton with her new LymphaTouch device in 2020

“There is no other device on the market that affects scar tissue in the same way as LymphaTouch”

From a professional point of view, LymphaTouch also makes treatment easy to document and reproduce, because the settings used (negative pressure and vibration) can be recorded. The device can also serve as an objective measure. For example, if a client can be treated with 90 mmHg of negative pressure in the first session and 120-150 mmHg in the next, this usually reflects the effect of the treatment on the scar tissue and the client's tolerance. According to Hannah, client feedback is unanimous: the treatment feels comfortable on the skin, the scar tissue feels softer after the first session and the scar does not feel as tight as it did before treatment. Functional changes can also be seen after treatment, such as increased range of motion or the ability to take deeper breaths, together with less pain.

“LymphaTouch can be used for any scar”

Different techniques and settings can be used for different scars to get the best results. Treatment should always be planned around the client's needs and goals and combined with other scar treatment methods. LymphaTouch scar treatment follows the same contraindications as manual scar treatment: no inflammation; no stitches, hooks or staples; the scar is fully healed; there are no open areas; and the client consents to treatment. Treatment usually starts away from the scar (for a c-section incision, for example, on the abdomen) so that the client can get used to the sensation of negative pressure. Once the client is used to the device, you can start working over and around the scar. Because LymphaTouch is so versatile, you can choose the right treatment head, pressure and time for any scar.

“LymphaTouch is the best device for scars”

LymphaTouch enables fast, long-lasting and effective results in scar treatment. The negative pressure pulse lifts and lowers the scar tissue, enhancing lymphatic circulation in the scar area and so supporting the healing of the scar tissue. The principle behind the device is also easy to explain and demonstrate to the client.

Hannah Poulton is an English women's health physiotherapist specialising in scar treatment. She owns HLP Therapy Limited, a private clinic in the centre of the UK. She also owns The Positive C-Section, through which she runs a range of training courses on scar management, and is a co-founding member of Everything Natal, a company that teaches health and fitness professionals how to properly assess the postnatal population. Hannah began her physiotherapy career in the early 2000s and has specialised in women's health and scar management for the last 10 years, particularly c-section scars. She combines her professional knowledge with her own experience of a c-section birth to inform and empower people on their recovery journey.

Source: THL (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare), Perinatal statistics 2023